The National Organization for Marriage on Monday asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to stop U.S. District Judge Michael McShane from issuing a ruling Monday regarding Oregon's ban on same-sex marriage.

The anti-gay marriage organization asked the court for an emergency stay while it argues why it should be allowed to intervene in the case. McShane last week denied NOM's attempt to intervene and has said he will issue a ruling at noon Monday on the lawsuit challenging Oregon's constitutional provision limiting marriage to one man and one woman.

"This case is an ugly example of inappropriate cooperation between the Attorney General and the gay marriage lobby, both of whom want to redefine marriage in contravention of the overwhelming decision of the people to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman," Brian S. Brown, NOM's president, said in a press release. "The people of Oregon are entitled to a defense of their decision on marriage rather than being abandoned in Court."

McShane ruled that NOM could not simply replace Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum in court as a defender of Oregon's prohibition against same-sex marriage. Rosenblum has declined to defend the law, saying that it violates the federal equal protection rights of gay and lesbian couples. Like the plaintiffs in the case, Rosenblum has urged the judge to allow same-sex couples to marry.

The plaintiffs on Monday filed a response to the NOM motion urging the 9th Circuit not to issue a stay. The plaintiffs, which include four gay and lesbian couples seeking the right to marry, said that it is "extraordinarily unlikely" that NOM's intervention in the case would change McShane's decision.

Rosenblum also argued that the 9th Circuit should not intervene.

"As the district court found, it is the province of the Attorney General, who answers to the electorate of Oregon, and not NOM, which does not, to determine what legal position to take in response to a challenge to state law," Rosenblum's office said in a legal brief.

"I doubt we'll get anything from the 9th Circuit before noon," said David Fidanque, executive director of the Oregon chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which is working with some of the plaintiffs.

Fidanque noted that it is possible that even if McShane strikes down Oregon's ban on same-sex marriage, he could issue a stay on his own -- either for a few days or until the 9th Circuit considers district court rulings from other states.